ClimateWire headlines — Monday, December 3, 2012 — 8:09 AM

SPOTLIGHT

Materials science breakthroughs in wind turbine blade technology could drive down the costs of building wind farms and help put the renewable energy technology on a stronger economic footing to compete with coal- and natural-gas-fired electricity.

LONDON -- They've been blamed by denizens of some local communities for migraines, tinnitus, heart attacks and hearing loss. Their presence on the landscape has been likened to an alien invasion. Are they really from outer space? Hardly. They're the wind turbines sprouting up like daffodils around the United Kingdom. But for some U.K. ministers, they're about as welcome as nettles.